The Sudbury-based Mansour Group has sold its flagship ground control business to a consortium of private investors in Ontario.

The new company, operating as Mansour Mining Technologies Inc., manufactures rock bolts and related supplies, rebuilds and repairs slag ladles and slag bowls and fabricates a wide assortment of products, from scaling bars and raise ladders to custom dispensing units for rockbolts.

Milad Mansour, one of Sudbury’s leading mining supply entrepreneurs, continues to control Consolidated Logistics Inc., Consolidated Industrial Products, Sudbury Lime, BM Metals and several other companies in the Mansour Group.

Mansour Mining Technologies Inc. will aggressively pursue new business opportunities under its new ownership, said president and CEO Jean-Guy Coulombe.

Scope

“Traditionally, Mansour has been very strong in the Sudbury Basin, the Timmins camp and in northwestern Ontario,” he said. “The plan now is to extend our scope, not only domestically, but internationally. We also intend to broaden our manufacturing footprint, both in Canada and abroad because one of the key constraints with this business is the cost of freight.”

Coulombe brings a wealth of experience in the mining supply business to Mansour Mining Technologies. He spent 14 years with Sandvik in various executive roles in North America and overseas, was president of Metso Minerals Canada for several years and, most recently, served as vice-president, mining, for Maclean Engineering.

Born and raised in Sudbury, Coulombe has a Mining Engineering degree from Queen’s University and an MBA from Laurentian University.

The company will continue to operate out of its existing location in Sudbury.

“As far as I’m concerned, Sudbury is the epicenter of the underground mining world, at least in the Canadian context,” said Coulombe. “We’ll make investments here in terms of capital equipment and manpower. We will add people to the roster right across the board, from the executive management level right through to the plant level.”

In addition to expanding the footprint of its ground control business, Mansour Mining Technologies also has an opportunity to grow its slag ladle and slag bowl rebuild and repair business.

Rail spur

“One of the competitive advantages we have is that a number of years ago Milad Mansour had the foresight to build a rail spur right into the building,” said Coulombe. “That means you can load a 20-tonne slag bowl onto a rail car at the customer’s site and ship it right to our shop, minimizing handling with cranes and the inherent risks of hoisting something that heavy onto a truck.”

Slag bowls are six to eight inches thick, take a lot of abuse and tend to crack in winter due to the constant changes in temperature.

The company recently won a long-term contract from Vale for rebuilding and repairing slag ladles and bowls and hopes to win business from other smelters across North America.

“It’s a very exciting time for Mansour Mining Technologies,” said Coulombe. “We have a group of solid investors and owners who have access to capital and we have a lot of room for growth.”